Standard Scoring vs Point Per Reception

A standard scoring league has always been dominated by running backs, they are the staple of a quality fantasy team. In a standard league in 2010, when comparing running backs and wide receivers, there is seemingly no comparison. Nine running backs rank above the top receiver, and 17 of the top 25 RB/WR available players are running backs. Time share guys like Jamaal Charles, Ray Rice, Ahmad Bradshaw, Benjarvis Green-Ellis, and Mike Tolbert rank above stud receivers like DeSean Jackson and Reggie Wayne. What does it all mean? In a standard league, you need to address running back early. There are the occasion late round or waiver wire steals, and we saw more this year than in any year in recent memory. Arian Foster, Darren McFadden, Peyton Hillis, and the aforementioned Mike Tolbert were all late round guys or picked up off the scrap pile, but spending a high pick on Ray Rice, Maurice Jones-Drew, LeSean McCoy, and Steven Jackson paid off more than spending a late first to early second round pick on a receiver like Reggie Wayne, Andre Johnson, Larry Fitzgerald, and Miles Austin. So next year, in your standard league, take a running back first, it has always been the motto of fantasy football, but for some reason fantasy players have shied away from this. As for a PPR league, that’s a whole different story…

Successful PPR guys have been able to get by in the past with guys like Wes Welker, Derrick Mason, and Danny Amendola. All you have to do is gather plenty of catches. When you look at the top 25 RB/WR eligible players, 14 of them are wide receivers. Running backs like Rashard Mendenhall, Matt Forte, Cedric Benson, and Mike Tolbert don’t appear in the top 25, but high possession receivers like Larry Fitzgerald, Wes Welker, Jeremy Maclin, and Marques Colston do. Judging from these results, in 2011 feel free to take wide outs in round 1. The top 12 guys in these leagues are split with five wide receivers and seven running backs, with the guys ranked 10-12 being named Adrian Peterson, Ray Rice, and Chris Johnson. In a PPR feel free to take the best guy, regardless of position as you can grab pass catching running backs or possession receivers a little later on.

This is not a must follow list as everyone does their own thing, but keep it in mind if in your standard league you are picking sixth and debating over Roddy White or Michael Turner, take the guy who is going to touch the ball 300-350 times. Where as in a PPR, the same debate is do you take Turner and his 1500 yards and 10 touchdowns or White who’s 100 catches are worth the same as a 1000 yards? Keep it simple fellas, and that is a simple as it gets.

Remember the Good Times

One week after missing his first game since 1992, he returns to the field. Not the dome that collapsed, postponed the game for one day, and held the entire country in suspense as to whether or not he would continue the streak. No, he did not play, but Brett is back on the field again tonight. The cold, frozen, outdoor stadium, that usually plays home to the Golden Gophers will now host the Bears, the Vikings, and Brett Favre. Enough about Brett Favre, right? From the retirement wavering, to Sterger-gate, to the streak, to a return on Monday Night against long-time rival Chicago in front of the world, Favre has really worn out his welcome. Alas, he says this is the end, and I truly believe he means it this time. This has been a long, trying season and not nearly what he expected. But, I ask you one question…

Can you look past the last few seasons and remember Brett Favre, the hall of famer who loved to play football and made everyone love watching football. Let’s look at how Favre’s legend began, in mid-September of 1992, then Packer’s quarterback Don Majkowski left the game to injury. Enter Favre, all he did was fumble four times and the Packers trailed 23-17 and had the ball at their own 8 yard, Favre orchestrated a 92 yard game winning drive. The following week Green Bay defeated the Steelers and went on a six game winning streak and finished 9-7, just missing the playoffs. Green Bay went to the playoffs in 1993 for the first time since 1982, and in 1994 they became the first Packers team since the 60’s to make the playoffs in back to back seasons. Favre woud go on to dominate the remainder of the 90’s, winning three MVP awards from 1995-1997, leading the team to the NFC Championship game every year and a Super Bowl Title in 1996.

The nineties wound down and a new millennium started and Favre continued the streak, continued to entertain us, and continued to play the game he loved, but no one could have expected what was witnessed on December 22^nd, 2003. One day after the death of his father Favre took the field against the Raiders what remains his best game statistically, passing for four touchdowns, 399 yards, and a passer rating of 154.9. But that was not as memorable as the post game interview, in which through tears Favre said he played because that’s what his father would have wanted, he loved him, and he loved the game of football.

That is the Brett Favre I choose to remember, the one who played because he loved the game. He holds the record for most touchdowns, yards, wins, and nearly every other quarterback statistic, but I remember the Brett Favre that is tackling his receivers in the endzone, pelting Donald Driver with snow balls, and playing the game like a kid. Brett Favre, last year should have been your last, but I will always remember the pre-2010 you, and I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see that Brett reemerge tonight.

Taking Responsibility

Tonight was supposed to be about a certain professional athlete brandishing a gun in a locker room, instead its going to be about something that is possibly just as troubling and could explain why this type of behavior seems to be so common place.

While watching a local high school girl's basketball game a young lady was called for a foul, fair enough, they happen every game no big deal. Until she decides to start yelling at the ref, she is then given the technical. Now according to team rules that denotes the player being benched the remainder of the game. Instead of her taking the bench, she continues to get into a shouting match with the ref for which she is given her second technical and subsequently ejected from the game and no longer permitted near the court. All of this occurred within a five second span in the second quarter. The player goes into the locker room only to emerge during halftime when the rest of the team comes out.

The girls behavior is completely inexcusable and that is evident to every adult in the arena, with the exception of said player's mother. The mother does not seem to realize that her sixteen year old daughter disrespected her team, teammates, school, coach, athletic faculty, and the referees. Instead she blames the coach for being too hard on her child. Twice in the season a player has gotten a technical foul and both times those players sat on the bench the remainder of the game with no issue, but for some reason this mother and this parent seem to think they should be the exception.

I'm not saying this situation is directly related to what recently happened in Washington, but if parents do not hold themselves and their children responsible for these types of actions, then when will they learn what is wrong and what is right? When a player joins a team, there are a certain set of rules they need to follow, if they don't they have to face the consequences. If every parent treated their child like this coach, these referees, and this team treated this player maybe there would not be the issue of athletes attempting to live by a different set of rules. It should be up to the parent to teach this and not high school coaches.

To Play or Not to Play

In the past two weeks the very foundation of the NFL playoff system may have been shaken. The Colts decided not to go for "The Perfect Season" and rested their starters in Weeks 16, giving the 7-7 Jets the chance to stay in the playoff hunt. In Week 17 the Bengals utilized a vanilla game plan and spent much of the second half with backup players playing. In a two week span the New York Jets went from 7-7 and in the back of the pack in the run for a wildcard spot to 9-7 and the fifth seed in the AFC and teams like the Steelers and Texans lost out due to the Colts' and Bengals' treating these games like exhibition games.. Now there are rumblings that these teams should have played there starters and something must be done to uphold the integrity of the league.

A team that does well enough throughout the season has the right to rest players to avoid injuries. That is the luxury of performing well throughout the season, the Colts were 14-0 with nothing to gain from playing their starters down the stretch. The Bengals were 10-5 and guaranteed a home playoff game, they had nothing to gain by risking injury. This is done every season, a team has a great season and knows they will be in the playoffs and have the opportunity to give other players playing time and avoid injury to their stars.

The other side of the argument is the competitive balance that is affected by these teams. Pittsburgh and Houston may have a legitimate argument, but, had Pittsburgh defeated Kansas City or Cleveland or Oakland, teams that combined to go 14-34, they would not have to worry about the tie-breaking procedures or depend on the Jets to lose. Houston on the other hand, could have defeated the Jets when they played in Week One, and they would be in the playoffs rather than readying for free agency.

There are still teams that decide to play to win the game down the stretch, risking injury and fatigue to maintain the team's timing and consistency. The Patriots experienced the ultimate downside to this theory, the loss of the league leader in receptions for the playoffs, Wes Welker.

Resting the starters is no guarantee of a successful postseason, teams seem to be negatively affected by the time off, only one time in the past decade has a team been a top seed and won the Super Bowl (04 Patriots). Over this span teams have been forced to play themselves into the playoffs and ride that momentum to a successful postseason run.

So who is right?

Who knows, the NFL does not like resting starters because hard working fans do not want to pay money to see backups and practice squad players in Week 17. But, what would happen if Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, or Drew Brees were forced to play, only to be injured and miss the playoffs? Would the average fan rather see backups in the regular season and starters in the playoffs or vice-versa? The right answer is...

Whatever the coach decides to do, after all he has positioned his team to have that luxury.